iPad review (4th generation, late 2012)

Last week at an event in San Jose, Apple CEO Tim Cook introduced two new iPads. One, the iPad mini, is a legitimately new product.

The other was a small upgrade to the 9.7-inch iPad, bringing a new processor and new Lightning port to the device. But Tim Cook didn't just call the latest iPad a minor, iterative upgrade, or a poorly-disguised excuse to get a Lightning port on the tablet. He called it the "fourth generation" of iPad. Cook touted faster performance thanks to a new A6X processor, with no hit to the iPad's battery life. (And yes, there's a Lightning port.)

The refresh comes at a very odd time — only a few months after Apple unveiled the "new iPad," it's now the old iPad. But is the new new iPad worth envying, or upgrading...